Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert (85) sits on the bench in the fourth quarter during the Week 3 NFL preseason game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Washington, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. (Photo: Kareem Elgazzar)

The Walkthru is a daily look at the Bengals, your questions and whatever else spills from the brains of beat writers Paul Dehner Jr. and Jim Owczarski. You can follow them on Twitter (@pauldehnerjr, @JimOwczarski), Instagram (@enqbengals) as well as Enquirer Sports on Facebook.

One question crossed my mind when Tyler Eifert opted to have back surgery and end his 2017 season. Have we seen the last of Eifert for the Bengals?

Hard to believe we’ve come to this. I distinctly remember having discussions with those inside the team where the point of many financial decisions the last two years was putting aside money to ensure they could pay Eifert the top tight end money he deserved.

He was destined to follow A.J. Green as one of the next top-market contracts the club would give out. Before this injury, I thought he was an easy choice for at least the $9.8M tight end franchise tag.

Now, not far removed from his Pro Bowl 2015 season, we’re left to wonder if his career in Cincinnati is over.

Jim and I discussed this fairly in-depth during an emergency, bye week BBP2 that posted yesterday. At the end of the conversation, we both said if you were forcing us to make a call today on whether he’s done with the Bengals, we both leaned toward saying it was over.

That’s not saying the Bengals and their 2013 first-round pick can’t reach an agreement on an incentive-based, one-year prove it deal this offseason. Maybe they will.

Or maybe Eifert’s association with CAA, chasing bigger dollars will sway him away from such things. Or you have to wonder if the Bengals are done counting on Eifert and being let down.

By the time this regular season concludes he will have played in 25 of 66 games the last four seasons. When you have a player of Eifert’s quality you can build an offense around it. You just can’t do that now. Nobody can. Not with three career back surgeries and two in the last 10 months.

You can argue the Bengals didn’t do a good enough job hedging their bets entering this season. But they were partially banking on development from Tyler Kroft (which appears to be happening) and help on the outside with John Ross (which is in injury holding pattern).

The Bengals obviously love Eifert and for the right price he may return, but hard to blame the team if they decide it’s time to move on from a relationship that showed limitless potential in 2015.

BENGALS BEAT PODCAST

We threw together an emergency BBP2 for you as we discuss the season-ending surgery of Tyler Eifert and offer updates on the other injured Bengals. Also, Optimistic Takes from Optimistic Bobby and the Hot Seat with Kevin Huber.

ON TAP TODAY

The Bengals are on the bye and return Monday to kick off Steelers Week.

TWITTER QUESTION OF THE DAY

What is your avg length of work day on 1pm game day vs 425pm? 8am-8pm — 10am-10pm?

Thanks for the question, Sara. I don’t know if anybody else is interested in our side of the games, but I’ll happily answer.

For a 1 p.m. home game we show up somewhere in the 10 a.m. area and will probably stick around until somewhere around 7-8, depending on the situation. Road games you are obviously taking travel into account, so we are getting to the stadium a little earlier to avoid any issues with unfamiliar terrain/security and we are always dealing with whatever our travel situation is like getting back. There are few things tougher than a late game and first thing Monday morning flight out. I can’t claim I haven’t passed the hotel and slept at the airport before.

But regardless of all that, they are far and away the best days on the job. They could go all day and it wouldn’t bother me.

BENGALS TWEET OF THE DAY

DEGENERATE CORNER

Vegas is still not feeling the Bengals will make that run, but they are moving in the right direction after the Bills’ win. Also, the Vegas love for Baltimore is comical. Here are the numbers from our friends at Bovada.lv.

AFC CHAMPION ODDS

TEAM: 10/4/17 -- Current Odds (10/11/17)

New England Patriots: 11/5 -- 2/1

Kansas City Chiefs: 4/1 -- 3/1

Pittsburgh Steelers: 4/1 -- 6/1

Denver Broncos: 17/2 -- 9/1

Oakland Raiders: 10/1 -- 16/1

Baltimore Ravens: 40/1 -- 18/1

Houston Texans: 12/1 -- 20/1

Buffalo Bills: 22/1 -- 25/1

Tennessee Titans: 16/1 -- 25/1

Cincinnati Bengals: 50/1 -- 28/1

Jacksonville Jaguars: 50/1 -- 28/1

Indianapolis Colts: 75/1 -- 40/1

Miami Dolphins: 75/1 -- 50/1

Los Angeles Chargers: 100/1 -- 75/1

New York Jets: 100/1 -- 75/1

Cleveland Browns: 1000/1 -- 1500/1

AFC NORTH ODDS

Pittsburgh Steelers: 1/5 -- 4/9

Baltimore Ravens: 5/1 -- 3/1

Cincinnati Bengals: 9/1 -- 5/1

Cleveland Browns: 200/1 -- 300/1

RANDOMNESS

If there is avolcano that can destroy all life on Earth I don’t feel like I need to know about that. You can keep that one a secret and if we all die in the lava, at least I can say the years before that were slightly less stress-free.